


Lantern

by RedxLipstick



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Background Poly, Body Image, Breastfeeding, Broken Bones, Burns, Career Ending Injuries, Child Death, Child Murder, Cuddling & Snuggling, Depression, Domestic Fluff, Dysfunctional Relationships, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Smut, Fainting, Falling In Love, Family Feels, Fear of dark, Fluff and Angst, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Ice Skating, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, Injured Victor Nikiforov, Injury Recovery, Kidnapping, Kissing, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mama Katsuki Hiroko, Medical Trauma, Mermaid Katsuki Yuuri, Merman Katsuki Yuuri, Merman Yuuri, Nightmares, Ningyo, POV Victor Nikiforov, Pack Dynamics, Past Relationship(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Depression, Scared Victor Nikiforov, Scars, Self Confidence Issues, Self-Esteem Issues, Societal Outcasts, Societal Rejection, There will be ice skating in this!, mermaid au, mermaid yuuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2018-11-03 23:08:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10977309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedxLipstick/pseuds/RedxLipstick
Summary: Victor goes to Hasetsu, Japan to recover from the injuries which ended his career as a Living Legend Competitive Figure Skater. He starts going to the beach every night to seek out the strange, dancing lantern he keeps seeing in the waves. Then he meets Yuuri, and everything changes.





	1. At the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! Thank you all for reading! This is un-beta'd so I apologize for any grammatical/spelling errors.
> 
> I do not own Yuri On Ice-I just like to skate around in their world from time to time.
> 
> Soundtrack for Lantern:
> 
> Scared of the Dark by Steps  
> Someone's Gonna Light You Up by The Rasmus  
> Remember Me by The Birthday Massacre  
> Heavy In Your Arms by Florence + The Machine  
> Yellow Light by Of Monsters and Men  
> Where I Come From by Passion Pit  
> Water (feat. Rostam) by Ra Ra Riot  
> Things We Lost In the Fire by Bastille  
> Never Let Me Go by Florence + The Machine  
> Underwater by MIKA  
> Drumming Song by Florence + The Machine  
> Diaries by The Birthday Massacre  
> No Light, No Light by Florence + The Machine  
> We Radiate by Goldfrapp  
> Starving (feat. Zedd) by Hailee Steinfeld & Grey  
> Sunshine Riptide (feat. Burna Boy) by Fall Out Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor sees the strange lantern dancing in the waves for the first time.

When Victor thought about it, he knew exactly how he had ended up where he was at this moment in his life. But he didn't like to think about it. Thinking, remembering, was too difficult sometimes, and now was sometimes. 

He was alone. He was alone on a beach. Victor was alone, on a beach, in a strange city in Japan-a country he had visited only once before, and a city he had never visited before at all. It was night, the moon was hiding, but the stars were out, pricking at the darkness with cold light. 

He had left the local bar, staffed by a woman named Minako, a dance instructor who had seen better days, and instead of wandering back to the small inn he was staying in, where his only companion, his poodle, was waiting for him in his room, he had found his way down to the beach.  

It was odd, sitting in the cold, damp sand, alone at night. Victor was terrified of the dark. But this night, the stars were bright enough, and he thought, as the alcohol buzzed pleasantly in his mind, that he might just be alright this time.  

He curled up on his side in the sand, not caring that it was getting all over his clothes and in his silver hair. He hugged his knees painfully to his chest and tried to think-think-think; what was he going to do with his life? When he left the beach, when he went back to the inn, when he eventually left the small town he had run to with desperation and only a small taste of hope?  

He was an ice skater. That was what he did. That was who he was. But he didn't have that anymore. He wasn't that anymore. Not since he had been forced to retire after the last season, after his horrible accident, his injuries, which he was still recovering from, even now.  

And with no family in Russia, and his friends remaining as painful reminders of everything that had brought him to this very beach, to this town-he couldn't stay there, he couldn’t stay anywhere. He had left. And here he was. Alone. Alone on a beach. In the dark. The darkness that he was afraid of.  

Victor shivered in the coastal breeze and curled tighter into himself, wishing he had brought a sweater or a blanket, but he hadn't, and he was shivering now, teeth chattering, goosebumps rising all over his exposed arms. He didn't have the will to get up at the moment and head back to the inn. He rolled in the sand and buried his face in his hands, reaching up to eventually grab and pull at his thinning hair, feeling tears well up when he felt his injuries twinge in pain-the sand probably, definitely, wasn't good for his healing injuries. Where the rough grains brushed against his bandages under his clothes, some touching puffy, fresh scar tissue, and some just putting uncomfortable pressure on his damp gauze, he could feel the burning from the accident fresh-he was burning alive, always now, in perpetual night.  

At some point, he fell asleep on the sand, physically exhausted and emotionally weary. And when he had his repeat nightmare of the accident, of everything he had been and the lack of everything he was now, he woke, yelping, alone, in the cold night air, on the beach.  

Victor jerked upright, disoriented, until he remembered where he was, and why, and how, and felt that horrible sinking feeling inside when you wake feeling miserable but somehow still sinking that much lower when everything comes back to your sleep-muffled mind.  

He shivered harder in the breeze-he would be lucky if he didn't catch a horrible cold after all this.  

Victor was just trying to rouse himself enough to get up and walk back to the inn when he felt-something. A gaze upon him? A presence? Was someone, or something, here on the beach with him, or was this an echo of his nightmares making him paranoid and jittery?  

A flash, a glint of something yellow, caught his gaze from the side and he turned his head to look at the receding tide. A fair distance away, but still close enough to shore that Victor could make out the dark shape behind the small light, he could see a bobbing, floating, glowing, yellow orb. The little lantern was dancing in the tide and there was a dark shadow silhouetted behind it, that looked large enough to be a large animal, perhaps? 

"Hello? Is someone there?" 

The light winked out into darkness and there was a distinct splash above the rhythmic rolling sound of the tide, of something, someone, diving back into the waves, taking their lantern with them.  

Later, when he was back at the inn right before the sun rose, while the sky was greying from the midnight ink, and the kindly woman who ran it with her husband and daughter was fussing over his rumpled state and the hollow cough that had already settled into his chest, he gulped down the hot miso soup Hiroko placed in front of him, and asked about anyone seeing odd things on the beach at night.  

It was difficult with his limited Japanese and her choppy English, but Hiroko's eyes widened and she warned the Russian man to keep away from the Ningyo, a fish-like creature from Japanese folklore that could do many things, but generally more harm than good. They would dance on the waves at night and lure innocent men to their deaths, or worse, all because they were afraid of being eaten themselves for their flesh provided unnaturally long lives and eternal youth.  

Victor puzzled over why this creature, if it did exist, would want to lure men to them if they were afraid of being eaten? But he dismissed the story as the silly tales of a small fishing village along the ocean, which Hasetsu was, after all.  

He politely promised Hiroko he would stay away from the dancing lanterns on the waves and finished his soup, having the clarity of mind to ask after the local doctor before heading to his room to clean up and change-he should have his healing injuries checked on after all, he didn't want to be entirely irresponsible with his life no matter what it must seem like to any bystanders to his dramatic flight from Russia.   

The doctor informed Victor that he indeed had a cold now, great. Something about his immune system being lowered naturally while his injuries were healing, or from what the nurse could translate into English for him, that’s what he surmised. Speaking of his injuries, they were healing but not as quickly as they could if he rested and didn't insist on regular walks and other small exercises the former athlete tried to sneak into his daily schedule.  

There were days, he had nightmares about them frequently, where he couldn’t tie his own shoes. He knew he was broken now, ugly to look at where once he had been all silver and moonlight beauty, he was now firey pinks and purples. His skin was healing, slowly. His bones were healing even slower. His heart, his mind, his spirit-those were healing slowest of all, if at all.  

He was given a refill of his burn cream, some antibiotics, a cough suppressant, and directions to the local pharmacy where he could pick all of this up and also get fresh bandages since he was running low on his supplies as he continued to have to change his dressings twice a day.  

Ironic, right? An ice skater from the cold land of Russia, burned into self-imposed obscurity? Broken, bruised, burned, and all of his gold medals couldn't put his life to rights.  

When Victor's bandages had been freshly changed, armed with a sweater and a cheap, fleece throw blanket he had picked up from the store, he made his way to the tiny ice skating rink the town had, Ice Castle. He couldn’t skate anymore, yet, but every afternoon after the short walks around the town he wasn't supposed to really take but stubbornly did anyway, he would sit in the stands of the rink and just-watch, feel, smell, be near to the ice again, even if no one was skating, as they seldom were; Victor wasn't even sure how the rink could afford to stay open. But then, that was everywhere in the tiny town, it was overpopulated with places for not enough population or visitors to patron.  

But Victor didn't really know how to live without the ice. It was why he had chosen Hasetsu: it was tiny, obscure, and had an ice skating rink-a perfect escape for a fallen legend. One day he would skate on the ice again. He would never perform for others again, for audiences, compete, of that he was sure, he was too disgusting to show himself to his fans or competitors again, it was hard enough for his friends to see him as he was now, to meet his eyes. But he hadn't lost the ice entirely, he would return, just for himself. He just needed to be able to get his skates on, and he would get there, he had to.  

After the rink had closed for the day, Victor skipped the bar, skipped a warm dinner at the Inn, and went back to the beach, alone. But this time he brought a tiny, plastic flashlight he found in his closet at the inn that morning, and the blanket from the store. He was bundled in a sweater and settled the blanket under him to not get sand on his clothes and in his bandages again. He had the flashlight for comfort, the dark terrified him now, and his hands shook where they held tightly around the plastic handle, but he had wanted to come back to the beach tonight; he almost felt like he had to.  

He wanted to see if the little lantern would come dance again on the waves. What was it? He felt-he felt-something, interest? He felt something for the first time that wasn't misery in so long, he had to chase this, whatever it was, he had to understand, to know.  

So he waited for the strange light to appear again. Victor waited and waited, and as the temperature dropped and the wind picked up his cough got worse, and he thought to himself that he needed to bring warmer clothes, more sweaters, a hat, and a scarf for tomorrow night. He fell asleep, hugging the flashlight to his chest, having toppled over on the blanket, sleeping curled up on his side.  

He woke to a yellow light, bobbing in front of his vision, flashing behind his eyelids. When he blinked the sleep from his eyes and tried to calm his shivering and coughing enough to focus, the little lantern was much farther away, back down the beach and in the waves again.  

"I won't hurt you, whoever, whatever you are," Victor called out, trying to be loud enough to be heard through the crashing of the waves and the rasps of his cough, "W-what are you?" Victor's voice cracked and he coughed hoarsly, chest wracking with a fit, and pained tingles running through his body where his coughing upset his healing ribs and skin.  

The lantern flashed and disappeared, followed by a splash into the waves.  

Maybe he had scared the creature off?  

Victor waited a while but it didn't seem like they were coming back, and his health wasn't getting any better. He packed up and headed back to the inn, sneaking up to his room through the public dining room, looking guiltily to where it looked like Hiroko had fallen asleep, head resting on a table, probably waiting up to see why he hadn't come to dinner, to make sure he was okay-the woman had been so kind to him, she treated him like he always thought a mother might treat him.  

He cleaned himself up, dosed himself with cough medicine, and cuddled up to Makkachin to warm himself. Tomorrow, he would go back, and hope he didn't scare away his lantern friend again. Maybe the creature behind the lantern was strange. Maybe they wouldn't look at his scars with pity and disgust. Maybe they were afraid of the dark too and that's why they had the small lantern. Maybe, maybe, maybe-maybe this was hope blooming in Victor.  

All because of the dancing lantern in the waves.   


	2. Angelfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor meets the mysterious Yuuri.

The next day, Victor's cold had worsened. He didn't get out of bed, even though laying around and doing nothing made him feel like he was jittering and shaking out of his skin-his bones buzzing with the need for activity. Hiroko brought him hot meals in his room, and took Makkachin out on morning and afternoon walks. Victor paid the Inn a weekly rate, for his room and three meals a day, but somewhere after week 10 or so, he had just put a credit card on permanent file with them, and he hadn't checked his statement online to even see what, if anything, they were charging him. But he filed away a mental note to add a ridiculously high gratuity when he eventually did settle up with them for the extra care the Katsuki family had wrapped him in. He didn't deserve it, but they were so kind to him anyway.  

When dinner came, and the sun was setting, Victor had enough of lying in bed and was determined to visit the beach to look for the dancing lantern again. He got up and painfully dressed in an excess of warm clothing, like how he would dress for the snow and icy winds of Russia. The layers pressed on his bandaged wounds painfully, rubbing, but it was better for him to have the uncomfortable clothing layered on rather than to get chilly again and have his cold take a turn for the worse. His coughs rattled in his chest though it had been such a short time since he had even developed a cough in the first place, and he pretended he didn't see the greenish-yellow mucus that came up on the tissues he coughed into that afternoon. He hid them in the bottom of his trashcan, not wanting Hiroko to notice.  

He had intended to sneak out in the noise of the dinner crowd, still a relatively small grouping of people, not really a crowd by the tightest definition, but he supposed, a crowd for Hasetsu anyway. But when he got into the dining room, Hiroko was waiting for him. Victor felt guilt well up inside, she was taking such good care of him, had been so kind, and he was repaying that kindness by doing exactly what she had told him not to do. Only, she seemed to have been expecting this. She knew things perhaps only a mother could divine. She handed Victor a packed dinner in a bento box, a large one, that had multiple layers stacked one on the other.  

"Dinner for you. And please leave some for Fish-Sama, so he knows you have food for yourself and extra. I don't want him to think you're there to be after his flesh." 

Victor gripped the bento box in his hands and blinked back tears, he was being silly, Hiroko was being silly, but he couldn’t remember ever having felt this cared for by anyone before. She was protecting him from imaginary monsters, well imaginary to Victor, but still, she was protecting him, a foreign guest, an ugly foreign guest with medical issues that required far more attention than he was comfortable asking for or accepting.  

Victor bowed and said, "Arigatō, okāsan  _(thank you, mom),"_ a title he had asked Minako to teach him just for Hiroko, having never, ever bestowed that title upon anyone before.  

He felt flushed and embarrassed, horribly vulnerable, but Hiroko smiled at him and gave him a hug, and then he was on his way to the beach, holding his flashlight shakily in one hand while carrying the layered bento box from the fabric sling it was wrapped in with the other hand.  

Victor plopped down in the sand, rather closer to the tideline than usual, the foam on the tips of the waves just kissed his shoes where his legs sat straight out in front of him. He unpacked the bento and started eating the wonderful food Hiroko had packed for him, laughing when he noticed there was a distinct lack of any fish which was unusual for the cuisine traditionally served in the seaside town.  

"I don't know how this works, you know?" Victor called into the night. It was cloudy tonight, the sky was covered in a grey wall of clouds, and the moon wasn't shining through them. The only comfort he had was his small flashlight, and it was so dim. But this would be worth it if his lantern friend would appear.  

He coughed a bit, the heavy winds coming in from the waves smacking his face, the tide was choppy tonight and he was sure he'd have to move up to avoid the rising waves soon.  

"I don't know if you're there even when your light is out, but if you are there, I want you to know I don't want to hurt you." 

Victor finished what he could keep down, the coughing and drainage down his swollen throat making him a tad nauseated, and he set about arranging his food offering for his friend. He took the remaining food out of the bento box and dug a shallow pit in the sand several feet above the tideline and laid the food on the napkin Hiroko had packed with the bento box in the pit.  

He settled back down into the sand next to the food and packed the bento box back up with care. 

"I brought food for you. I don't know if you'll like it, but my Mom-" Victor broke off, trying to figure out exactly when it was he had started thinking of Hiroko as 'mom', before shaking his head, "Sorry, I meant to say, my Mom, she made the food, and I think it's good so I hope you'll like it." 

Victor started coughing again, his healing ribs burned with the movements, and he felt tears well up in his eyes for the second time that evening, this time because his pain was mounting.  

It was dark. His chest burned like fire-sometimes he thought he'd never know any other sort of feeling again. He was alone. There was no lantern tonight, and he didn't feel like anyone else was there, perhaps watching from a hidden spot, he felt alone.  

"I-I just want to meet you. My name is Victor. Maybe we can be friends?" Victor felt like an idiot, talking to the darkness consuming the beach, he was alone, there wasn't anyone there. He didn't have any friends, not anymore.  

Victor harshly coughed in a small fit and suddenly he was so, so hot and everything burned like he was lit up, and his vision went darker than before, like the light had just gone out in the world. He was just so tired, and he wheezed and thudded down to the sand, sprawled out, not moving. His body was tired, he was tired, he'd just close his eyes and rest for a bit and maybe when he woke up his friend would be there.  

When Victor woke up, he was in a dimly light, unfamiliar room. He couldn't sit up, it felt like a heavy weight was on his chest, and his nose tickled. He wrinkled his nose and brought his hand up to brush at it, and stopped when he felt a plastic tube attached to his face, blowing air into his nostrils. He pulled the tube off of his face, and disentangled it from where it had been wrapped around his ears. His hand hurt and his eyes widened when he looked and saw an IV attached to himself, sticking out of the top of his right hand.  

He turned his head, his hearing focused in on the beeping of a heart monitor, and he realized he must be in a hospital. But he hadn't thought Hasetsu even had a hospital? Where was he? 

He tried sitting up again and managed it this time, but coughed horribly once he was upright and almost passed out again, black spots blinking in his vision while he wheezed and panted on the bed.  

Hiroko walked in and fussed at him to lay down, and the doctor he had seen the other day came in as well with the nurse who could translate in English for Victor following behind.  

A fisherman had found Victor, passed out on the beach in the sand, and the truly odd thing was that the fisherman wasn't someone anyone in the town knew or recognized. He was just a random visitor, apparently? A quiet man, doing a good deed, who had carried Victor to the local doctor and had knocked on the door until someone had answered, though the sun hadn't even risen yet. Victor's rescuer hadn't stayed around, he had vanished after the doctor had brought him in and laid him in the one, small room he had for patients needing overnight monitoring and care locally, most patients who needed a higher level of care would have to drive several miles away to the nearest larger town with a real hospital.  

The doctor had contacted the Katsuki family because everyone knew Victor was staying at Yu-topia Katsuki Inn, and here they were. It appeared he had passed out because of lack of oxygen, during a coughing fit. He maybe had pneumonia, his lungs sounded kind of messed up to the doctor's stethoscope, but they hadn't done an x-ray yet. As for how this all could have happened in such a short time? Well, Victor knew he needed to take better care of himself, to actually rest, and let his body heal so his immune system would stop being so compromised.  

If the mysterious man hadn't found Victor, he could be much worse off than he was now. And he couldn’t even thank him.  

Hiroko sat with him until she had to go open up the public dining area in the Inn with her husband, with stern instructions to rest. She would be back to visit the next day. It looked like Victor would be on forced bed rest in the doctor's office for at least two or three days. He hoped Hiroko would bring Makkachin to visit him, he already missed his poodle and he had seen her just last night before leaving for the beach.  

Victor slept on and off throughout the day and when night came again he left a dim light on in the room so he wouldn't be in the dark. He didn't have anything to do-no books, no phone, no computer, no TV-nothing. But he had a feeling this was purposefully done, because when he had asked the doctor if he could try to contact Hiroko to bring him some of his things from his room at the Inn to entertain himself with he was told no, he needed to rest. The boredom and cough medicine forced him to sleep on and off, fitfully, but to rest and sleep nonetheless, with no alternatives for entertainment or activity. He was being given IV antibiotics for his cold-turned-pneumonia and saline to combat dehydration. The nurse came in and changed the dressings on his burns twice, and though she tried to be gentle, it still hurt just as badly as when he had to do it himself with his clumsy, unprofessional hands. 

At some point he woke in the middle of the night and tried rolling a bit in the bed to get more comfortable, to hopefully doze off again without bad dreams this time, but he startled when he saw someone sitting in the chair next to his bed. He turned onto his side, not without pain, and gasped a bit as he put uncomfortable pressure on his burns. The person had the chair scooted into a shadow from the dim lamp on the bedside table, but Victor could make out a beautiful, smooth-skinned face, pink lips, rosy cheeks, and what appeared to be burgundy eyes. He blinked and reached a hand out tentatively-was he hallucinating? 

Two very soft hands met his hand and seemed to gather it gently in their grasp, cradling his appendage with the utmost of care. He thought he saw the person bend down and brush their lips in a whisper across where his IV connected to his skin and then they settled his hand back down on the bed next to his body.  

"Who are you?" Victor breathed, hoping he wouldn't frighten the quiet person away. He had no idea who they were or why they were there but he felt so good in their presence, like coming home to an old friend.  

"I'm Yuuri. It's nice to meet you, Victor," Yuuri said quietly, barely above a whisper.  

"How do I know you?" 

"We've met before," Yuuri responded, still quiet, and not elaborating.  

Victor's head ached and he felt sleep pulling at him, he was so tired, and he felt comfortable, safe, around this Yuuri; maybe it was alright for him to go back to sleep and satisfy his curiosity in the morning?  

"Sleep, Victor. You need to rest," Yuuri answered the unsaid tiredness that permeated the air between them, lulling Victor into it's grasp. 

Yuuri reached out and petted Victor's silver hair, minding the bumpy scar tissue that touched parts of the left side of his cheekbone and forehead. Victor thought Yuuri looked like an angel sitting in the shadows, burgundy eyes shining like jewels, skin smooth and beautiful like moonlight. He shut his eyes and relaxed into his pillows while Yuuri continued petting his hair.  

When Victor woke in the morning, Yuuri was gone. The nurse and the doctor had no idea who he was talking about, they didn't know anyone named Yuuri in the small town fitting that physical description. The doctor thought the cough medicine might be causing Victor to have hallucinations or perhaps he was dreaming very vividly? Either way, the next night they left the door to his room open and the nurse checked in on him every hour. Yuuri didn't visit again.  

When Victor told Hiroko about Yuuri she frowned, looking worried, and told him to be polite to the man but to try not being alone with him, just in case he tried anything untoward.  

When Victor could sit up for long periods of time without terrible pain or coughing fits again, around day two of being at the doctor's office, he settled into a chair by the window where he could see the beach. He didn't see a lantern winking at him from the waves when night came, and he wondered if maybe he had dreamt the lantern and Yuuri up as well. 


	3. Rabbitfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiroko remembers her lost son. Victor is released from the doctor's care and visits the beach and the ice rink again in search of his lantern friend and the mysterious Yuuri.

When Victor was released from the care of the doctor, Hiroko did her very best to keep the recovering man inside the inn. It could hardly be much better for the man's health to sit inside a cold ice rink, as opposed to sitting on the cold, sandy seashore.

Victor had shown up on the doorstep of their humble inn, alone but for the company of his sweet-tempered poodle, Makkachin. The Russian man was quiet, timid, and often seemed to try to hide himself, to blend-in with his surroundings to not draw attention to himself, which was silly, because the tall, muscular man with hair that shined like silver was impossible to hide away. The scarring on his face, and the bulky bandages he wore under his expensive clothing only drew more unwanted attention to him. But the people of their town were not cruel, and they didn't stare in malice.  

The man had been so soft-spoken when he had first arrived, he seemed skittish, but Hiroko knew there was a bubbling personality waiting inside of him, too frightened to be coaxed out yet. She knew who Victor Nikiforov was. Her best friend, Minako, had been a dancer for many years and now owned a bar underneath her old dance studio. She had told Hiroko who Victor Nikiforov was and all about his bizarre departure from skating and from Russia, quickly, and unexplained to the press. Hiroko didn't care. She didn't care if the reasons were the new scars that blossomed on his face like magenta roses. She didn't care if he was hiding from the press in her tiny, quiet town.  

All Hiroko cared about, was helping this man, who had in so many ways, become the son that she and Toshiya had lost all those years ago on the beach.  

20 years ago, Hiroko and Toshiya were enjoying a rare day off together from the Inn, and had their 10-year-old daughter, Mari, and their 3-year-old son, Yuuri, on the beach with them. The town was a coastal town, a fishing town, and to spend time on the beach was part of everyday life for the residents of Hasetsu. Sure, everyone gossiped about this and that, various folkloric stories to pass the time in the sleepy town, and Hiroko had heard of the Ningyo every so often in the tales. But the threat of the Ningyo harming her and her family never became real until her precious lily flower, her Yuuri, wandered away from the blanket where the family was resting as the sun set and the sky was blotting with lavender clouds.  

She woke from their restful afternoon nap with a start when she felt her youngest child leave the safety of her arms. And there he was, her beautiful baby, dancing over by the edge of the waves, and as she ran over to collect him from their grasp, arms reached out of the foamy waters and grabbed the small child, dragging him under the waves. Hiroko screamed Yuuri's name over and over, and tried running into the waves after her Yuuri but the child and the arms that had dragged him under had vanished. There was no trace of her baby left.  

She was hysterical in her grief and Toshiya and the local authorities who came to help search for the missing boy didn't take her account of events seriously, thinking she must have still been dreaming when she saw her baby dragged into the waves by mysterious arms, vanishing almost immediately afterwards. The others in the town, they whispered about the Ningyo, and how they must have struck again, taking flesh that wasn't their own to send a message to the small town: stay away. To take a child, though? That seemed uncharacteristically cruel, but nobody could make it any better for the grieving family.  

The family set up a small shrine in Yuuri's honor in one of the private rooms of the Inn. Hiroko often left lily flowers for her lost baby, and they sat next to his picture until they faded and dried, vanishing eventually into dust like her precious child had vanished from her life. She hoped that whatever his fate was, that it was kind to her baby. But if she thought about the possibilities too much, she just cried. It had been so long, so many years, and the pain felt fresh.  

When Victor began spending more hours in the public dining room in the company of Hiroko, rather than hiding inside of his room, they spent the time together, while Hiroko tried teaching Victor Japanese and the Russian teaching the Japanese woman more English with the help of her daughter Mari, who was almost fluent in English. She could draw laughter from the man's pouting lips and was delighted to learn his smile was shaped perfectly like a heart. He was a joy to be around, his nature seemed honestly cheerful, when he wasn't drawn into his thoughts, probably focusing on the circumstances that had brought him to her Inn.  

She never mentioned skating, or Russia, or anything from Victor's past, and he offered tidbits from time to time, memories and such, but never went into greater detail, and seemed thankful that she didn't pry. He never mentioned any family or parental people back in Russia and as he grew closer to Hiroko every day, she thought she knew how she could help his heart, his spirits, and her own. She was becoming a mother to this man, this man who was like a lost boy in so many ways, like her own lost Yuuri, and her family grew closer to Victor as time went on.  

When Victor first mentioned seeing lights over the waves, mentioned spending time on the beach, Hiroko was terrified. She would lose another boy to the greedy ocean, to the wrathful Ningyo. But, she tried to comfort herself, Victor was an adult, and he was strong even with injuries, surely he could defend himself... unless the Ningyo used magic against him. She packed him extra food with his dinner to make sure the Ningyo understood the man was not there to hurt them. And when he was saved by the mysterious fisherman? Hiroko wondered if it was perhaps a Ningyo attempting to make amends for her lost boy all those years ago, by saving one of her boys now.  

But to put on a sweet face and call themselves after her Yuuri? She wasn't sure what the Ningyo were playing at, but it frightened her. She warned Victor to not be alone with this Yuuri, who knew what harm it could bring? But even for the sake of his health and safety, she could only do so much to keep the man inside and away from the dangers and chillls of the world outside of her Inn's walls. Victor was spirited and didn't do well shut away from the outside world for any amount of time, she could see that.  

So when it had been two days of trying to keep the man inside after he was released from the doctor, she finally stopped trying to nag and distract Victor, and instead did her best to make sure he would be healthy and safe while venturing away from her, from his home. She made a day pack for Victor with Toshiya's warmest, wool coat and scarf, and a fleece hat and mittens for the cold breezes on the beach. She included a sheet to protect his healing skin from the sand on the shore. She also packed a wool blanket for the chill at the ice rink. There was also a small first-aid kit stocked full of supplies he would need to change one of his bandages in an emergency. Finally, she had packed a small, electric lantern to light his way at the beach, and a loaded bento box with food for lunch, dinner, and extra to leave as an offering for the Ningyo so they would hopefully leave her boy alone.  

When the man came down for breakfast, and was presented with the day pack, and a kiss on the cheek with blessing for his safety, he looked like he might cry in gratitude. Anything for her son.  

*~~~* 

Victor resolved to look for a gift for Hiroko while he was out amongst the town in the days to come. She was too good to him. The whole family was too good to him, really. He knew how much wool cost, and knew these were likely the only warm, winter supplies the humble family owned for Toshiya. He hadn't thought to bring his own winter clothing from Russia, and now it was stored in a box somewhere, and he didn't care to look for it. He would have to order replacements online and borrow Toshiya's in the meanwhile.  

He loved the fresh, morning breeze coming in, salty and crisp, from the shore as he walked to the docks to practice greeting the fishermen in Japanese. He didn't shiver like usual as the air chilled with approaching Autumn because he was wrapped up in Toshiya's coat. Makkachin was with him and was happily running back and forth around him, chasing seagulls that chattered at the poodle angrily when barked at. He hadn't seen Yuuri since his delirious encounter with the mysterious man while he was staying with the doctor and maybe one of these fishermen knew him?  

He happily noted that walking didn't hurt his side at the moment, while his clothes rubbed up against and pressed on his bandages. His lungs also felt open and he breathed easily, not coughing with deeper breaths, even though he could see his breath in front of him this morning, it was definitely on the colder side. And maybe he would find Yuuri. And maybe tonight when he sat on the shore he would see his friend with the lantern dancing on the waves again. Hope, or more, interest and curiosity, they were beautiful things, and were bringing beautiful, heart-shaped smiles to his face.  

He didn't even stop smiling after he had greeted and questioned the fishermen in broken Japanese and it turned out that they really didn't know Yuuri after all. He went down to the shore to sit for a while on the sand until lunch, and after that he would visit the ice rink. Maybe there would be skaters on the ice today and he would watch them fly like he used to. Maybe he could practice bending down to tie his shoes that he had been wearing as slip-ons for a while and see how his ribs did. He had to tie his skates again one day, or he hoped he would have the courage to even want to tie his skates again one day. But the first step was being able to actually do so, and he hadn't stretched his ribs in a couple of days now and he was feeling sore stiffness settle into his torso.  

When he was on the beach, he found himself a spot to sit away from the piers set over the waters, crusted in barnacles and smelling richly of algae, mildew, and muggy salt. He had a feeling his friend was very shy, and knew if he had any chance at all of making contact with them, it wouldn't be around other people. He hoped Makkachin didn't scare them away either, but the poodle looked harmless and was very friendly, maybe the shy being would see only good things in the energetic animal. Victor was propped gingerly against a large, smoothed, outcropping of rocks, forming a small cave that would be filled with ocean at a high-tide. He was isolated here, it was impossible to see where he was sitting from anywhere else on the beach, He knew this was probably dangerous, since the only thing that had saved him when he had passed out on the sand several days ago was someone, Yuuri, seeing him and rescuing him.  

But he settled into the cool, damp sand, using the sheet as a barrier between himself and the granules, and turned the lantern on higher up where the sand was drier, if something happened, and night fell, someone would find the lantern if the tide didn't come up and wash him and his lantern away first. He felt kind of guilty putting himself at risk like this, he certainly wouldn't be telling Hiroko of this adventure later, but he comforted himself with the thought that Makkachin was with him now and she would get help if he needed it, surely. He just thought this was the best approach to finding his friend with the lantern, and he really needed a friend.  

Makkachin curled up on the drier sand by the lantern and started napping and Victor pulled out some cooling pork buns that Hiroko had packed him as a snack after breakfast. He set one towards the water's edge, where the waves tickled at the mouth of his small inlet, and started eating the other one.  

When he finished he said aloud, "Hello? If you're there, this food is for you. Do you even speak English?"  

He tried again in Japanese, admittedly, very brokenly and heavily-accented, and settled back against the rock, letting his legs lay straight in front of him so his shoes reached the edge of the sheet he was on. He tangled his fingers in Makkachin's curls and studied the way the sunlight reflected off the water to make pretty, dancing patterns of shadows and light on the rocks around him.  

He had been sitting there a long while, he had lost track of time, really, and he was in that space of dreamy reality, where one hasn't quite slipped into sleep but isn't really fully awake either, when he heard a splash outside of the lulling pattern of the waves and it startled him. Victor jumped a bit, causing Makkachin to whine in her sleep, and he looked to his left, towards the water, and saw a wide ring of ripples that didn't belong to the choppy surface pattern of the regular waves. The pork bun was gone. The sand around where it had been sitting was disturbed, almost like something had been dragged up towards it? The waves were already destroying most of the marks left behind in the sand and Victor searched the water for any sign of the being who had taken the pork bun.  

Was it a seal? He didn't think seals were very quiet.  

Was it a bird? Birds weren't quiet either, really.  

It seemed like a large animal, creature, anyway, with the dragging marks in the sand.  

How had he not noticed anything? Had he actually been asleep?  

He heard something splashing quietly against the usual rhythm of the waves and looked up from examining the marks in the sand, he saw something shining under the water? He could see a large, dark shape under the water, and it looked brown, but that could be the water, really. But there was something-sparkling? Against the brown there seemed to be small glimmers of shine catching the sunlight through the waves, and what looked to be a yellow ball of light under the green waves where the brown color lightened to dark tan in the sunshine.  

Victor rubbed his eyes and scooted closer to the water edge. What was he seeing? What was he looking at right now?  

"Hello?" Victor called out in English, and then in Japanese.  

There was a louder splash and he watched, amazed, as what appeared to be a large, brown fin breached the waves before disappearing back into the frothy surf and leaving with the large, dark shape under the water. Victor watched as the yellow orb, shining like a lantern, travelled away from him and the shore until it winked out of sight.  

He held his breath while the being swam away before gasping in excitement-he knew that had been his lantern friend! Maybe he would see them again if he came back to the same place tonight? If he was quieter, maybe he wouldn't frighten them away.  

*~~~* 

Victor dropped Makkachin off after a quiet lunch on the beach and took a moment to reassure Hiroko of his health before leaving for the ice rink.  

There was no one on the ice today.  

Yuuko and her triplets were keeping to themselves in the building and Victor was sitting alone in the seats.  

He had tried bending over to practice tying his laces and it hadn't gone well. It had been extremely painful.  

He was recovering from his exertions when he thought he saw a flash of brown or burgundy in the shadowy corner of the rink seating. He turned his head to the side, seeing something glinting in the din, and saw a person wearing dark clothes, sitting silently.  

He had never seen anyone at the rink not there to skate or to watch someone they had accompanied skate. This person was sitting there in the darkening rink, under the dim lights, alone, quiet, watching the ice, just like him.  

Who were they? 

Maybe they could talk? 

Victor slowed his breathing, and tried to forget the pain searing up his sides. He stood and moved awkwardly in the large coat between the seats to the far corner where the person sat alone.  

He could see them stiffen as he approached and he felt bad, he didn't want to make anyone uncomfortable, but his anxieties dissipated and he only felt excitement when he recognized their face-it was Yuuri!  

"Yuuri! I'm so happy I found you!" 

The quiet man looked up almost skittishly, moving slightly as his body seemed to twitch like a rabbit about to bolt, but he whispered, "Hello, Victor."


	4. Octopus and Lanternfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri's mother reminisces on how Yuuri became her son. Victor befriends the mysterious Yuuri at the ice rink and meets his lantern friend at the beach.

It was difficult being unwanted, living a life of rejection and grief, when you were an empath and so was everyone around you.  

While all mer that lived within the Pacific Ocean had shape-shifting abilities to match the naturally empathic and immortal abilities that resided within all mer throughout the world's oceans, each being still had a true creature form that belonged to them-and no amount of shape-shifting would change it.  

She didn't have a called name, mer didn't speak to each other under the waves, they communicated telepathically with their shared empathic ability, they spoke through emotions. The mer who would become Yuuri's mother, was named the emotions for hideous, frightening, and grief, all balled into one, sorrowful lump of a name. She had been born with the true creature form of an octopus. Her true form would always be half-human female and half-octopus; and her fellow mer thought she was terrifyingly ugly because of it. Her parents had rejected her. She had raised herself feral, in the wilds of the ocean depths, following and trailing different pods of mer from time to time, but eventually ending up alone all over again. 

Who could stand to be around someone so embroiled in grief and misery when they were empathic and could feel the hurt she would feel every moment?  

Mer were naturally social creatures. They mated for life. Sometimes a male or female would take on multiple mates, but once a mer was mated there was no undoing the bond.  

She was alone. She had always been alone. But she didn't want to remain alone. She wanted a baby, a child, someone she could raise to love all with an open heart, maybe someone who could even love her? 

She remembered the day she approached the pod she had been travelling behind for many moons. The pod had three males, one female, and a matriarchal female-the mother of one of the males. The three males and younger female were all a mated group, and what she was about to ask was unheard of, but she wasn't bound by the societal rules like other mer as she was an outcast. She just wanted a baby.  

She should have known better than to trust the group. The three males took their pleasure from her body and she surely had gotten with child after it all was over, but the group then kept her around like a slave to do their bidding, particularly the matriarchal female of the group who liked to use the octopus mer like a handmaiden. When her child was only a couple of years old, and had begun to turn to their mother as more than just a source for suckled milk, but with love in their heart, the matriarch fed the child to a violent shark, scenting blood from where the older mer had cut the child's throat.  

She fought back for the first time against the horrid group of mer she had become entangled with and the matriarch had laughed wickedly and promised a child in return for her murdered babe, but a child she would steal from the shore, who couldn't possibly ever love the hideous octopus mer, because he would be stolen from his true mother.  

She didn't want that. She now knew the misery and grief of losing a baby and would never wish that upon anyone else, but when the matriarch shoved the squalling, drowning child into her arms under the waves, he was already dying, and she was given no choice. She pressed her breast to his mouth and forced the child to drink her milk, eating of her flesh would turn him into a mer, and a shape-shifter mer of the Pacific at that, he would become immortal, like her, and wouldn’t drown.  

When the human child took on his first creature shape, he was hideous just like her. The child born of her body had been like the males that had impregnated her, beautiful. This child, born of her flesh, her flesh alone, took on the form of a lanternfish. He was terrifying and beautiful to her all the same, with his long, needle teeth, the lantern spouting from his forehead, and his iridescent, brown tail that shimmered with different colors in the sunlight that made it's way lazily through the thick waters.  

There was nothing binding her to this horrible pod of mer any longer. Her child belonged to her alone and shared no parentage with any of the mer in the pod. She took her child and left.  

She raised her child with love and care, she named him with all the happy emotions he had brought to her life, like a land-flower blossoming open to the sunshine. And he did love her, and wasn't frightened of her many tentacles that would pet his hair and soothe him to sleep at night after tucking him into their bed of woven kelp hidden away in an underwater sea cave. She liked to kiss his little lantern and coo at his chubby, short tail, telling her child he was very beautiful in his own way, to her, he would always be gorgeous, loved, and wanted.  

She was terrified of ever running into more cruelty at the hands of other mer and eventually the pair started shapeshifting into human forms more frequently and made their life on land, very quietly and secluded from the rest of humanity. Yuuri, who had once been human, made their life for them. He remembered his human name, Yuuri, and went by that name, and gave his mother a human name, Aimi, meaning love and beauty which were the two concepts that came to his mind whenever he looked upon her.  

Yuuri picked Japanese back up fairly quick and taught it to his mother. He found them a small place to live, in a tiny fishing village, and supported them by acting as a fisherman. He always covered his face, hid his voice, and was unknown to the small town.  

Aimi stayed inside their tiny home most days, cooking and cleaning. She felt happier as each new day dawned and her terror over Yuuri's real mother finding him and taking him away from her waned with each new setting of the sun, another day had gone by, and they were safe and together still. She didn't like when Yuuri would dance in the waves at night, she knew his body needed the ocean water more than her own, she was hundreds of years old, and he was a youngling still, he needed the waters of his native ocean to be healthy. She warned him to be careful when he danced, and always worried over his safety, but she couldn't and wouldn't stop him from what he needed to be healthy, to be her Yuuri, full of life and love.  

Anything for her son.  

*~~~* 

Victor sat next to the quiet man and tried not to barrage him with questions though curiosity was burning through him. He could see the skittish man looked about ready to run away from him, and that was the last thing he wanted.  

So Victor sat back in his chair, kept his hands in his own lap, and started simply, "Do you come here often?"  

"No." 

"Oh. Well, do you like skating?" 

"I don't know how." 

"I can teach you! That is, when I can skate again myself," Victor laughed nervously, hoping his excitement and subsequent insecurity hadn't been too much for the quiet man.  

Victor peeked over his shoulder at Yuuri and noticed the man's face was bright red-in embarrassment? Yuuri's eyes were fixed on the ice in front of them, his hands were clenched, white in his lap, and he was chewing on his lips like he was fighting the urge to say something.  

"So you remember me?" Yuuri finally blurted out.  

Victor shook his head in confusion, "Yes? Of course I do. You saved me. You visited me in the hospital room, and you said we'd met before, but I don't remember meeting you before then. And you, well, you k-kissed my hand, right?" 

Yuuri sighed and looked down at his feet, mumbling something under his breath.  

"I'm sorry?" 

"I just thought you wouldn’t remember that. I-I mean-" Yuuri stuttered, eyes widening at the hurt look on Victor's face at his words, "I-I'm not good at this, I-I don't know many people. I don't have any friends, I mean." 

Victor nodded, and shyly placed his hand on Yuuri's clenched hands where they sat in his lap, "I understand. I don't have any friends here either, except for Makkachin. But I'd like if we could be friends." 

"Who's Makkachin?" 

"My poodle! Would you like to see?!" Victor babbled happily about his beloved pet while showing Yuuri dozens of pictures of the poodle on his phone. Yuuri loved the poodle. He wanted his own poodle now, apparently.  

Victor sneezed suddenly and even though he had a thick jacket on he felt a small shiver work through him.  

Yuuri frowned, looking worried, "Victor, it's cold in here. Don't huma-I mean, don't you need to stay warm to stay healthy?" 

Victor looked up from his phone where a short video of Makkachin playing with a stuffed toy was looping, "Huh? Oh, I'll be fine. I'm going to have dinner at the Inn tonight where it's warm and then I'll be going back down to the beach." 

Yuuri blanched at that, "Why are you going to the beach?" 

"Oh, I just think it's very pretty there," Victor lied dismissively. He didn't want to lie to his new friend but he had a feeling his lantern friend was extremely shy and would never meet him if he brought Yuuri with him as well.  

"Would you like to have dinner with me, Yuuri?" 

"No, I-I've got to get home." 

"Oh, alright. Well can we meet tomorrow?" Victor chirped hopefully.  

"M-Maybe," Yuuri mumbled, nervously.  

Victor nodded, squeezed Yuuri's hands, and stood up. He shuffled away with a cheerful, _'Bye, Yuuri! See you tomorrow!'_  

Victor hoped tomorrow he would be able to tie the laces on his skates. He hoped Yuuri would show up and maybe he could teach the quiet young man how to skate, while re-learning the ice himself. It would be wonderful to have company, with no judgement or expectations of him based on his previous identity of:  _Victor_ _Nikiforov_ _, living skating legend._  

He hoped his lantern friend would meet him on the beach tonight. He hoped. Hope was a beautiful, healing thing. And Victor could feel it blossoming and curling warmly through his scarred chest, beating with his heart, and giving him reason to wake for another day.  

*~~~* 

Victor didn't have to wait long after the sunset to see his lantern friend. He watched the small light bob and dance around in the waves with an excited smile on his face. He had brought Daifuku, a sweet rice cake, stuffed with Anko, a sweetened red bean paste made from Azuki beans. Victor was hoping his offering of dessert to his lantern friend would entice them to visit him on the sand. In all this time, the thing he was sure he'd take away from this experience for the rest of his life, aside from his love for his Japanese family, the Katsuki family, was his love of Japanese food.  

He munched on the sweet cakes while watching his friend dance in the ocean, delighted every time the lantern appeared to do a spin or leap in the water, and made sure to set aside two cakes for his friend hopefully on a napkin in the sand. The breeze had picked up and Victor was pretty sure he needed to replace the batteries in his flashlight, because the bulb was looking very dim.  

But suddenly the breeze stilled and Victor looked up and his eyes widened: the lantern had stopped dancing in the waves and was bobbing in the dark, coming closer to him! He held his breath, hardly daring to make a squeak or any noise, he didn't want to frighten his friend away!  

He heard a beautiful, melodious voice, singing to him, and it made him feel drunk. His ears were ringing, and his eyes became heavy-lidded, begging to close and just listen to the music surrounding him. The singing was words, he could heard words calling to him,  _'_ _...just follow my yellow light...'_  

Victor shut his eyes, giving in to the song's soft demands, and settled into the sand. The song stopped when he shut his eyes, and all he could hear was the breeze and what sounded faintly like bells chiming in the distance. He could hear steps now, light on the sand, and heard a weight settle next to him. The being picked up the cakes from the napkin, Victor felt the cool, textured flesh brush against his hand, and he dared to speak.  

"They're for you." 

"Thank you," the being sung in reply, setting Victor's head in a dizzy spell again, he swore he could see stars winking behind his shut eyelids.  

They sat silently next to each other on the sand for what felt like hours and eventually Victor was brave enough to reach his hand over and grab blindly for his companion's hand in the dark. Fingers laced in Victor's own, they felt roughly textured, like they were covered in scars.  

Victor squeezed the hand in his grasp and whispered, "Hi, I'm Victor. I want to be your friend." 

The response was sung back to him, quietly, barely a whisper on the wind, but it still made Victor's ears echo and ring a bit, and his heart felt like it was trying to jump through his chest to join the voice crooning to it.  

"I know who you are, Victor. We are already friends."  

Victor felt his hand lifted and thought he felt something decidedly smoother and softer than his friend's skin brush on the back of his hand-lips, perhaps? Was that a kiss? 

Victor felt so, so dizzy, like he might topple over on the sand and never get up. But he was so happy, he finally had met his lantern friend! They were friends! He had made two friends in one day! Yuuri and his lantern friend!  

"What is your name?" Victor asked breathlessly, hoping he would remain conscious long enough to hear the answer even though his blood was drumming in his veins, making a musical cacophony in his head.  

"Yuuri."  


	5. Mussels, Clams, and Tuna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor wakes up after fainting on the beach and meets Yuuri's mother, Aimi.

Victor couldn't be sure, of course, but he thought he heard a shocked gasp right before his vision went black and he keeled over onto the sand.  

His next aware thought was of how nice it felt to be wherever he was. He was wrapped in a firm, very warm embrace. Someone was holding him? The arms around him didn't hurt his healing ribs, or his tender, scarred flesh. There wasn't too much pressure on him, as if whomever was holding him knew, they must know how sensitive his healing wounds were.  

He was not sure where he was. The small room he was in was cloaked in darkness, and he would have been terrified if not for the firm arms anchoring him comfortingly-he was not alone here in the dark.  

In the darkness, his other senses lit up with awareness. His head ached like it had been split open. He smelled something salty, and vaguely fishy, like old wooden docks-when the scent of mussels, barnacles, and years of ocean water baked into the air surrounding them in the warm sun. The touch surrounding him was warm, and textured, like he remembered the skin of his Lantern friend being-Yuuri! His Lantern friend and Yuuri, the fisherman who rescued him, and kissed his hand, and then later appeared at the skating rink-they either shared the same name or were the same person. Yuuri had said they were already friends and already knew each other on the beach before he passed out, so Victor was pretty sure they were the same person?  

Except, Yuuri's skin felt roughly textured where their bare skin met and he didn't remember his Yuuri having anything but smooth skin whenever he saw him.  

Everything was silent wherever they were. All he could hear were small puffs of breath from whomever held him, probably, hopefully, his friend Yuuri.  

Victor's chest rattled with a wheeze, trying to cough despite the searing pain it sent through his ribs, and his jostling roused the person with their arms wrapped around him.  

"Victor, are you alright? Should I have taken you to the doctor? I didn't because I thought you only passed out because of my song-" 

"Yuuri?" Victor wheezed into the darkness, curling deeper into his partner's arms and feeling comfort well up inside when the answering puff of breath fanned over his upturned face sweetly, smelling of red bean paste and sticky rice-their shared treat earlier on the beach, this was definitely Yuuri then. 

"Yes, Victor. I'm here. It's Yuuri." 

"Why can't I see you? Why is it so dark?" Victor almost whined, wanting so badly to understand.  

"I-I don't...I...I'm just more comfortable like this, right now." 

"But I'm...afraid," Victor admitted quietly. 

Yuuri stiffened, trying to pull his arms away from Victor though the man whined in protest, "I didn't mean to make you afraid of me-" 

"No, I'm afraid of the dark," Victor huffed, before trying his best to nudge his way back into Yuuri's hold.  

"Oh..." Yuuri breathed into the darkness between them, "Well, I'm afraid that you'll be more frightened of me l-like this...like how I look now then you are of the dark, and then you'll leave and I've never had a friend before, I've always been too scared to try..." 

"Yuuri," Victor whispered, pushing his face into what he thought was the man's neck, damp and covered in bumpy ridges of flesh, where the salty scent seemed to seep the strongest into the room from, "I won't be scared of you...just tell me what happened? Please? What's going on? Where am I? Are you my Yuuri? I mean-the Yuuri who saved me? And my friend from the beach, who dances with the lantern? Why do you feel different now then you looked before? And why do you think I'll be afraid of you, of how you look?" 

Yuuri sighed, as the human continued to babble questions against his neck, weighing exactly how much he wanted to explain at just this moment in time- _how much was too much?_

"You're in my bed, at my home," Yuuri started quietly, "You passed out on the beach a few hours ago because of my...singing. Sometimes, when a human, that is, a person, when a person isn't used to my type of singing, the way I sing, then it can cause them to become delirious and maybe even to faint like you did." 

"But why?" 

"That's just the way it is," Yuuri replied simply, not even sure how the actual magic of siren singing worked himself- _it was magic._

"Why were you singing like that?" 

"Because I was...afraid. I didn't want you to see me how I really looked, and I was hoping my singing would distract you." 

"You're really very afraid of me seeing you...like this?" Victor asked, ghosting his hands around Yuuri's biceps and over his naked chest, to run his fingertips over the bumpy skin.  

Yuuri nodded silently, chin bumping gently against the top of Victor's head as an affirmative.  

"And you're...my Yuuri? Who saved me? You're the same?" 

"Yes, I am, your Yuuri, as you say. I'm the same person who visited you in the hospital room, and at the ice rink. I am also the creature that dances in the waves at night, with a lantern," Yuuri chuckled quietly at that but Victor didn't understand why.  

"Then...what are you? Why does your skin change? Why can't I see you like this?" 

"What am I?" Yuuri hummed, "Well, let's go with yours. I'm yours, Victor. Your Yuuri. Your friend. As for why my skin changes, maybe I'll tell you someday." 

"How come you didn't meet me before? Were you hiding from me?" 

"I tried to be brave, you said you didn't want to hurt me, and I wanted to believe you," Yuuri whispered, and his voice sounded so vulnerable it made Victor's heart ache. 

His head was still throbbing and he felt the pull of sleep drag at his eyelids, but he had one more question, "Why did you bring me here like this?" 

Yuuri hugged the human close, and pressed his lips to Victor's silver hair, "I don't know," he answered in a quiet whisper, barely loud enough for the sound to pass his lips.  

Victor sighed and burrowed himself deeper into Yuuri's arms, dreamily thinking of his wonderful friend Yuuri, who was holding him so caringly, before falling asleep.  

When Victor woke in the morning, he was alone in the bed. The bedding was all off-white and was crumpled and tucked around his body warmly. The tiny room he was in was very rustic, and the only source of light came from around the edges of a thickly-curtained little window and from the doorway to the room which had no door set in the frame. From the ceiling were garlands of worn rope, dangling what looked like bits of driftwood, sea glass, and smoothed pebbles attached to the ropes with meticulously knotted bits of dried kelp, sea grass, and sea weed.  

The only other piece of furniture in the room was a small, self-contained indoor fireplace, the kind that required no chimney. It was not lit, but there were warm coals simmering inside. There was no other furniture in the room and no other decorations or personal items anywhere around.  

 Victor sat up and groaned as his torso shifted with his movement and his dirty bandages rubbed at his healing wounds. Thankfully, he was still fully clothed, even with his shoes on. He could see his backpack of supplies from the night before packed up on the floor and he grabbed it before poking his head out of the room. The room he was in appeared to be across from another room, furnished the same as the one he was in, down to the oceanic garland hanging from the ceiling and the small indoor fireplace, and both rooms looked into one large room, in the center of which was a small table with two chairs next to a larger fireplace that was thankfully not burning. That was the entire small home. Victor thought his room at the Inn might be as large as the entire square footage of this tiny home.  

Yuuri walked into the home from the front door, followed by a woman with long, black hair. They were both holding armfuls of mussels, clams, and even some freshly-cleaned fish which Victor thought looked like Tuna, in woven baskets and seemed to have a set routine as they moved seamlessly around each other to set coals alight in the larger fireplace while the raw fish went onto the table to be prepared for cooking. Victor shuffled fully into the central room and made sure to give the fireplace a wide berth as he hesitantly approached the table the woman and Yuuri were currently preparing their food at.  

"Victor, you're awake! Do you want to eat what we're making for breakfast?" 

Victor nodded dumbly and sat down when Yuuri ushered him into the chair he had been occupying. The woman looked at Victor with what he thought might be fear in her eyes, but Yuuri held her hand and smoothed his thumb over it softly, comfortingly, murmuring, "Victor, this is my mother, Aimi. Mama, this is my friend, Victor." 

Yuuri looked so proud presenting his friend to his mother, Victor felt his chest clench, maybe Yuuri needed a friend as much as Victor needed one. He thought he remembered Yuuri saying that he was his first friend, after all.  

Aimi spoke to Victor in very stilted English, "You are welcome here, Victor." 

Victor nodded and smiled at her politely, wondering why, aside from her black hair, she appeared to look very different from Yuuri as far as features went, but it didn't really matter, she seemed just as kind as her son and that's really all that mattered to Victor.  

Victor felt his eyes roam over Yuuri's face while he worked with his fingers to prepare the clams and mussels for boiling in a large stew pot they had stored on the mantle of the fireplace. The water for the meal came from a large piece of pottery Yuuri brought in from outside. Victor felt like he had somehow travelled back in time, to a time and place where people hadn't progressed to electricity, indoor plumbing, or modern small-talk practices, but it was all just fine by him, Aimi and Yuuri were both very kind to him, and didn't stare at the scars on his face, and he felt like he could just rest and be, happily, content, there with them-much like how he now felt when he was spending time alone with the Katsuki family with no Inn guests around.  

He had so many questions and this really all just seemed so surreal to him, this couldn't be actual reality, but Victor just ignored it all and tried to let himself fall into the quiet, comfortable rhythm Yuuri and Aimi seemed to have together. He wanted to be happy. He wanted this, their quiet content together. Victor thought if he could just let it whisper into his bones, seep into his skin, then maybe he would sleep better at night and he wouldn't have that horrible anguish burning inside of him, always right underneath the surface of his mind.  

Yuuri ate standing while Aimi and Victor sat in the two chairs huddled at the crooked, rough-hewn table. Their small breakfast was over too soon and Yuuri was explaining that he worked as a fisherman most days but was really done with his job by the time breakfast came around for the day. He worked from very early morning until just after sunrise and started each day by making breakfast with Aimi from his fresh catch and shoreline scavenging. Victor explained that he liked to spend mornings at the beach now, and afternoons at the skating rink. But that he had been spending mornings on the beach to try to meet Yuuri, whom he was still trying to relegate to being the dancing creature in the waves with a lantern; and here Yuuri was, right in front of him, one and the same. 

Victor wanted to understand. He wanted everything to make sense. But he didn't think anything would make sense, at least not for now. So, he tried to just accept the good things, Yuuri's friendship and presence, and summon up patience to wait for everything to fall into place with explanations that didn't make his head spin.  

"Would you like to spend the day with me?" Victor asked shyly, not wanting to part so soon, but knowing eventually he would need to return to the Inn and explain his overnight absence to Hiroko who was probably worrying over him fiercely.   

"Yes, can I meet Makkachin?" 

"Of course!" Victor chirped happily, before his smile dimmed a bit, "Makkachin is at the Inn where I'm staying with the Katsuki family, and I have to go there first anyway so Hiroko doesn't worry over me." 

Yuuri's brow furrowed, "I don't really know the humans in this town because I try to stay away from most humans...well, I mean, p-persons, people, that I don't know." 

If it wasn't blatantly obvious to Victor before that Yuuri was definitely not a human, or at least, didn't consider himself to be one, Yuuri's stumbling over describing the residents of Hasetsu as human as though he were not included in that grouping would have piqued Victor's curiosity. Now, he had more questions than answers, but maybe if he didn't press Yuuri then Yuuri would feel safe to confide in him, as he hoped the same courtesy would be shown in deference to asking about his obviously healing wounds and visible scars.  

"They're very friendly, the Katsuki family, you'll love to meet them!" 

Aimi looked positively alarmed from her spot in the chair at the table, and while she hadn't spoken after welcoming Victor into their home, her expression said she was terrified. Yuuri brushed his hand over Aimi's for a moment and they shared a long look, like they were speaking without words, before Yuuri turned back to Victor and said, "I'm not ready to meet other humans today, Victor, but I'll wait on the beach to meet your Makkachin when you're ready to join me." 

Aimi nodded and patted her hand against Yuuri's cheek with a small smile before saying, "May you have a bright time," to Victor and moving into the small bedroom Victor hadn't been in with Yuuri the night before.  

Victor moved to get up and fix his backpack over his shoulders without hurting himself and Yuuri grabbed his free hand and laced their fingers together. Victor jumped a bit, surprised at the intimate gesture though he had slept in Yuuri's arms, against his naked chest, the night before, and surely he had done way more intimate things with his many sexual partners before his...accident. But Yuuri was so pure in his affections, so true, Victor didn't really know how to interpret the physicality of Yuuri's actions, he didn't really know anything he felt just then, and only grabbed onto the comfort being offered to him in the simplest form-physical comfort. He wound his fingers with Yuuri's tightly and followed him through the front door into the sunshine of a new day, ready to experience it with his friend, Yuuri. And he thought, just for a moment, that maybe he would really be alright. Maybe him and Yuuri would be alright, together. 


	6. Kissing Fish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor and Yuuri grow much closer to each other.

Yuuri waited on the beach for Victor to return to him with Makkachin. Victor couldn't feel worse, though, upon returning to the Inn and finding Hiroko worried to tears over where he had been overnight. He tried explaining that he had found a new friend and spent the night at their home, but she was still worried and suspicious, after asking about his new friend and receiving extremely vague answers from Victor. He kissed her cheek and squeezed her hands reassuringly, and actually joined the family, his family now, for a second breakfast, feeling too bad over his absence overnight to refuse a meal with them.  

But, despite it taking Victor more than an hour to gather up Makkachin and walk down to the beach from the Inn, Yuuri was still waiting on the sun-warmed sand for him, with a kind smile. Makkachin was overjoyed to meet a new person and ran ahead of Victor to jump onto Yuuri and knocked him over onto his back against the sand with an, "Oofh!" 

Victor flustered and rushed over to help Yuuri up and make sure his friend was alright, but Yuuri was laughing as Makkachin licked his face, hands patting the poodle's fluffy curls happily.  

Yuuri sat up and Victor settled next to him on the sand while Makkachin panted happily between them, as the poodle was spoiled with pets from both Victor and Yuuri. 

"Makkachin reminds me of the playful seals that live in the ocean," Yuuri observed, smiling at the poodle between them.  

Their hands brushed together in Makkachin's curls, where they were both petting the poodle, and Victor blushed, even though they had shared a bed and held hands by now, he suddenly felt his stomach flutter with exhilarated nerves around Yuuri. It had been a long time since he had formed a 'crush' on anyone, a long time since he had felt any strong emotions, really, but he thought that might be what he was feeling towards his friend. He just hoped Yuuri stayed around, whether he wanted to remain friends or something more, he just didn't want Yuuri to leave his life.  

"Did you want to go skating today?" Yuuri asked quietly, glancing shyly at Victor.  

But Victor winced and hung his head, "I-I don't think I can today." 

His wounds hurt too badly today, everything felt like it was burning again, after he had changed his bandages upon returning to the Inn that morning. He hated it, and it was only Yuuri keeping his attention away from the dark spiral his pain wanted to carry his thoughts to. Yuuri just nodded and didn't press any further. So, Victor sat there, listening to the rhythmic waves and enjoying the cool, salty breeze against his hot body, feeling kind of fevered with the amount of pain he was in.  

But eventually, he felt, he thought, maybe he could do it, finally talk about everything that had happened to him, if it was with his friend. Everything felt like a burning lump of grief, stuck in his throat, and he just wanted to finally spill everything out to someone, maybe it would all hurt less.  

"There was a fire." 

"Alright," Yuuri responded quietly, still, thankfully, not pushing Victor for anything-he didn't have to tell Yuuri anything, but he finally wanted to talk about it. 

Victor let out a deep breath, feeling his eyes prick with tears, and scooted closer to the comforting presence of Makkachin and on the other side of the poodle, Yuuri. Yuuri reached behind Makkachin and grabbed Victor's hand over where it lay on Makkachin's fluffy tail in the sand. Victor wound their fingers together, his stomach doing an odd flip, and took another deep breath, gathering his courage to talk.  

"There was a fire, a-and, and I-I was-" Victor stopped again, trying to force more deep breaths as his tears finally crested his cheeks and his throat clogged with gasps.  

Yuuri squeezed his hand and murmured, "You don't have to tell me, Victor, if you don't want to, it's alright." 

Yuuri was so, so kind. And it just made Victor want to do this more. So, he nodded but continued, "It's okay, I can do this, I need to do this. Alright, so, there was a fire, in my hotel room after a skating competition. The firefighters told me later that it had been caused by my hair straightener, I guess I had left it plugged in on accident. And, I was sleeping when it happened, I didn't wake up, so I passed out in the bed because I inhaled so much smoke, and if the smoke detector in the room hadn't gone off, signaling the hotel staff to call the fire department when they did, then I would be...I wouldn't be here. The fire burned so hot that it made the window shatter next to the bed and the glass got all over me when the window burst, and by then the flames had gotten to the carpet and the mattress. When they got to me, to pull me out of the room, I wasn't breathing and they had to perform CPR on me, and it broke my ribs. I had third degree burns on my face, and parts of my body, and broken ribs. They had to cut off my long hair because it had been singed so badly. I'm lucky to be alive at all." 

"Victor," Yuuri breathed quietly after the man had poured everything out in one large breath, it had seemed, the words spilling from his lips like a fast current, like Victor was trying so hard to expel their poison from himself.  

Yuuri shuffled around Makkachin so that he was pressed right up against Victor's side, minding the bulky bandages under his clothing, and wrapped his arms around the man, who had started shaking, tears running in rivers down his face.  

"I-I used to be a professional skater, you know? I was famous, I was so talented, and people admired me. I had so many people who wanted to be with me, just to be around me. And then when everything started healing over from the burns-I'm s-so ugly now with the scars, and with my hair all cut off. And I can't skate right anymore because my ribs are all broken and they're still healing, like my burns; and the doctors say it will take a long time for me to ever be like I was before. And of course, my big, ugly scars won't ever go away. How can I ever show my face again to the skating world? To the media? I can't, I'm hideous, and I can't make beauty anymore, looking like this, on the ice," Victor cried, taking great, gulping gasps as he sobbed through the words.  

Yuuri just held him silently, rubbing his hands soothingly over Victor's back until his cries quieted.  

Finally, when Victor was breathing evenly, and leaning most of his weight against his friend, Yuuri spoke, "Victor, I think you're very beautiful." 

But Victor just pushed his damp face lightly against Yuuri's arm and didn't respond.  

"And, I have scars too, Victor. They cover my whole body." 

"What? I've never seen any scars on you?" 

"Well...I, um, I'm different from you, I can change my appearance...to an extent. So, in the same way I can smooth out my scales when I change form, I can smooth the scars on my skin away too." 

"...Scales? And you dance in the ocean...Yuuri! Are you a mermaid?!" 

Yuuri stiffened where he held Victor and didn't say anything, and Victor backtracked, "I mean, you don't have to say anything you don't want, you don't have to tell me anything, of course, I was just curious. I don't mean to press, really, especially after you were so kind with me." 

Yuuri relaxed slightly and whispered, "I do come from the ocean." 

"Wow," Victor whispered back, in awe.  

"Would you...not tell anyone? My mother and I don't want anyone knowing about us, they might hurt us." 

"Of course, I won't, you can trust me, Yuuri, I promise." 

"Thank you, Victor," Yuuri responded, heartfelt warmth seeping into his voice.  

"So, can I ask questions about you?" 

"Hmm...maybe not today, I don’t want to scare you away; but since you told me about your scars, how about I show you mine and tell you about them?" Yuuri hummed softly.  

Victor nodded and pulled himself out of Yuuri's arms, and watched in fascination as hundreds of small, circular scars, like crater marks, appeared all over the man's visible skin. His skin looked patchy, dried out and blotted with red tones where it wasn't scarred white and reflective of the sunshine even in the slight shade where they were sitting with a rocky cover.  

"Your scars are pretty, though, they’re like watercolor splashes all over your skin," Victor murmured, eyes still swimming over Yuuri's scarred flesh admiringly.  

"Thank you, Victor. They're from living in the ocean for so long, with human skin, I mean, the salt will eventually do this to our human forms." 

Victor shuddered as Yuuri lifted his hand close to the scarred patches on his face, gently pushing his bangs aside to look at the bumpy, fuchsia scar tissue. Victor closed his eyes and shied away from Yuuri's hand and he pulled his hand back, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, sweet one, I'm sorry." 

Victor looked at Yuuri again, holding his breath slightly; did he hear that right?  

"You're so beautiful, Victor, I wish you could see that," Yuuri sighed in the silence between them, moving his hands back to Victor's and bringing them up to his lips to kiss each of his knuckles one by one.  

"Yuuri...what...?" Victor asked shakily, not really sure he wasn't hallucinating.  

"I'm sorry if I've upset you, but you're so sweet, and so beautiful, and my kind-we feel things so deeply. It's hard to try and hold my feelings back like I've seen you humans do. But if how I am being is making you unhappy, please tell me, I want to be your friend, I really do. I told you I've never had a friend before, and you're already so important to me, Victor. I care for you so much, even though I've known you such a short time." 

"Yuuri, what you're talking about, how you're feeling, that's more than friends," Victor breathed, hardly daring to hope that Yuuri might like him romantically in return, with how badly damaged he was now-it didn't matter to him that Yuuri had scars too, the man-merman, he guessed-was gorgeous still; Yuuri must really be a creature of myth and legend.  

"What are these feelings then?" 

"Um...does your kind have lovers? Partners? Romantically, I mean?" 

"We have mates. Do you wish to mate with me, Victor? And be my mate for life?" 

"Uh-I mean-I d-don't, I'm sure I would...that is, h-how?" Victor stuttered, feeling so confused. He wanted what Yuuri was talking about but had no concept of how that would even work out. Essentially Yuuri had just asked Victor to marry him? 

"Ah, I know humans, they court before they mate, yes? We do too, and I don't mean to skip that with you. But you should know, I said we feel things so deeply, that's actually how we talk to each other in the ocean, with feelings; how I would grow to care for you, if you let me, it would be quick and unparalleled." 

"Yes," Victor whispered out, and Yuuri leaned forward and pressed their lips together clumsily, like Yuuri had never kissed anyone before; but it still made Victor's chest flutter and tingles run through his body.  

"Wow," Victor whispered again, when their lips parted.  

Victor's heart was pounding now, he could hear it in his ears, like drumbeats.  

Yuuri pressed close to him once more, their lips nearly touching again, and whispered, "Oh, sweet one, I wish I could share with you how I'm feeling right now, but I guess I'll just have to show you." 

Yuuri gently laid Victor back into the sand, where they were now entirely covered by the shade of the rock outcropping they had hidden behind from the rest of the beach. Makkachin was curled up sleeping above their heads, and Yuuri was leaning over him, taking in Victor’s entire, wide-eyed view.  

Victor was sure he was dreaming, this was just too amazing to be real. Was he walking in his sleep? 

Yuuri started feathering light kisses, just gentle brushes of his lips, over every part of Victor's skin that was exposed, and that wasn't scarred. Victor felt tears well up again, he felt so overwhelmed, but with all good things. This was all too good for him.  

"Please, touch my scars too? Please, Yuuri," Victor gasped through his tears.  

And Yuuri moved his lips ever so softly to Victor's scarred face and neck, kissing Victor's scars like they were beautiful. And Victor finally felt beautiful again, after so long.  

"You're...you're everything to me now," Victor whispered, his sudden feelings for Yuuri swallowing him whole like a rushing tidal wave.  

"Yes, sweet one," Yuuri murmured against his skin, leaving even more kisses trailing behind his lips.  

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought by leaving kudos and comments!


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